At nightfall, we descended upon Old Port Montreal in search of a good meal and even better atmosphere. After walking a bit up from Place Jacques Cartier, we were almost literally pulled off the street by a desperate manager/owner of a restaurant on our right hand side. Just a note: most of the managers or owners seem to be very desperate for your business, so watch out! The restaurant that my husband and I as well as the manager/owner decided that we ought to eat at was Le Senateur.
The interior walls are painted in a blood red, I guess a somewhat in vogue color, and there are black and white prints of actors of just about every age hanging on the walls. There are small hanging lamps throughout the establishment that supply a little light, which also supplies a large amount of atmosphere and ambience. Our light above our table unfortunately broke midway through our meal and couldn’t be repaired -- that’s okay though; it just added to the romantic atmosphere already present. As like other Montreal restaurants, we found the food on the menu a great bargain, but disappointingly, the wine was just so very expensive. My husband and I both had the seafood casserole, which was simply a full lobster, several shrimp, mussels, and scallops in a rich seafood broth served in a large bowl -- it was $29.95 and also included a salad or soup and coffee. The broth was so delicious that I couldn’t help but dip my food in the broth and the crusty and soft bread served with the meal was delicious. The staff here is very nice and very quick. In fact, right after the management heard my husband spilled some broth on his lap, they were right over helping to clean up and apologizing profusely in a very French manner.
I would recommend this restaurant; however, I probably wouldn’t try it again until much later as I still wish to try the other restaurants in the area.